Pressurized aircraft cabin air comes from air bled off from the gas turbine engines of the aircraft. However, the engine bleed air can sometimes become slightly contaminated with oil or other fluids, which may result in an objectionable oil or smoke smell in the cabin of the aircraft. Existing systems used to detect such air contamination typically require specialized and complex instrumentation. Further, when this occurs in multi-engine aircraft, it can be difficult to determine which of the engines is the source of the oil contamination of the bleed air in an efficient manner.
An improved bleed air contamination detection system is thus sought.